JEFFERSON 

n 

AGAINST 


MADISON’s  WAR, 

j  fe,  •  .  -'V 

i  ' 

I 

I  dl,  ,'f  i  i  ' 

fcv.  ; 

BEING  AN  EXHIBITION  OF  THE  LATE  PRESIDENT  JEFFERSON  S 

I  y  ■ 

OPINIONS  OF  THE  IMPOLICY,  AND  FOLLY  OF  ALL  WARS, 
ESPECIALLY  FOR  THE  UNITED  STATES,  TOGETHER 
"WITH  SOME  REMARKS  ON  THE  PRESENT 

V"  < 

WAR,  AND  THE  PROPRIETY  OF  CHOOS¬ 
ING  ELECTORS  WHO  WILL  VOTE 

FOR  A 

PEACE  PRESIDENT. 

I  ■  :  : 

___ 

BY  A 

TRUE  REPUBLICAN 


TO  THE  OLD  REPUBLICANS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

AND  THE  FORMER  SUPPORTERS  OF  THOMAS 

JEFFERSON. 

MY  BRETHREN, 

No  man  despises  more  heartily  than  I  do,  a 
turncoat,  an  unsteady,  changing,  unprincipled  man. 
I  respect  men  the  more  for  their  steady  adherence  to 
their  party,  and  their  political  opinions,  provided  they 
have  been  formed  after  due  deliberation,  and  are  given 
up  as  soon  as  they  are  convinced  that  they  are  errone¬ 
ous. — But  though  this  principle  of  a  constant  and  reso¬ 
lute  adherence  to  one’s  political  opinions  be  certainly 
honourable  and  generally  safe,  yet  we  ought  to  be  es¬ 
pecially  on  our  guard  lest  we  confound  this  useful  rule 
with  an  adherence  to  particular  men ,  who  may  and 
often  do  deceive  us.  “  Measures  and  not  men” — “a 
government  of  laws  and  not  of  men” — are  two  of  the 
oldest,  and  though  the  most  familiar,  not  the  least  im¬ 
portant  of  our  republican  maxims.  Men  may  change, 
principles  cannot.  Power  may  make  men  forget  right , 
as  Mr.  Jefferson  used  to  say  ;  but  right  itself,  and 
wrong,  never  vary. 

Of  all  the  men  whose  principles  have  attached  the  re¬ 
publicans  to  them, Mr.  Jefferson  certainly  stood  the  high¬ 
est,  and  Mr.  Madison  owes  all  his  reputation  with  us, 
to  the  belief  that  the  mantle  of  the  former,  like  that  of 
the  prophet  Elijah,  had  descended  upon  him. 

If,  therefore,  my  fellow-republicans,  I  can  shew  you, 
that  Mr.  Madison  has  departed  from  all  the  old  and 
excellent  and  prudent  maxims  which  endeared  Mr. 
Jefferson  to  the  republican  party  ;  that  he  has  gone  di¬ 
rectly  counter  to  all  the  measures  which  Jefferson  pur¬ 
sued,  and  the  principles  which  he  and  you  have  ever 
maintained ;  why  I  trust,  that  you  will  with  me  prefer 
to  stand  by  your  ptinciplesj  rather  than  the  man  who 
violates  them,  and  you  will  see,  if  you  cannot  select 


p 


4 


some  other  other  republican  who  will  go  back  to  the 
old  republican  ground  from  which  Mr.  Madison  has 
strayed. 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  shew  a  great  number  of  prin¬ 
ciples,  which  were  considered  by  Mr.  Jefferson  and  us, 
as  the  very  foundation,  as  the  solid  underpinning  of  re¬ 
publicanism,  and  from  which  the  present  policy  of  ad¬ 
ministration  has  swerved. 

I  shall  begin  with  the  corner-stone  of  the  whole  edifice, 
the  necessity  of  peace  to  this  republic — the  fatal  effects 
of  all  t cars  to  the  United  States.  I  need  not  say  to 
you ,  because  it  must  be  fresh  in  your  minds,  that  it  was 
President  Adams’s  departure  from  this  sound  and  cor¬ 
rect  principle,  which  lost  him  his  office,  and  the  confi¬ 
dence  of  the  people,  and  it  was  Mr.  Jefferson’s  love  of 
peace  which  first  brought  him  into  the  chair. 

The  truth  is,  wars  are  fatal  to  a  young,  growing,  ag¬ 
ricultural,  and  commercial  nation — thev  are  still  more 
fatal  to  a  republican  one.  I  shall  not,  however,  go  in¬ 
to  the  argument  in  proof  of  it  in  this  place,  because  I 
shall  now  give  you  the  admirable  opinions  of  Thomas 
Jefferson  on  that  subject-arguments  and  opinions 
which  you  see  he  applies,  not  alone  to  the  time  in  which 
he  wrote ,  during  President  Adams’s  administration, 
but  to  ail  future  as  well  as  past  times — Not  to  one 
country  only,  but  to  all  countries-not  to  the  French  war 
into  which  John  Adams  with  fury  and  rage  was  then 
plunging  us,  but  to  all  future  wars.  The  truth  of  his 
doctrines,  like  all  truth,  is  immutable.  It  must  be  as 
correct  now  as  it  was  then.  And  if  Mr.  Madison  has 
been  so  misguided  or  misdirected  as  to  forget  this  sa¬ 
cred  truth,  so  dear  to  the  hearts  of  republicans,  I  hope 
they  will  not  be  so  inconstant  to  their  principles,  as  to 
follow  him  wilfully  into  so  fatal  an  error.  If  they  do, 
they  will  lose  their  standing,  and  federalism  will  again 
triumph  over  prostrate  republicanism. 

The  opinions  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  of  which  I  speak,  will 
be  found  in  the  4th  volume  of  the  Philosophical  Trans¬ 
actions  of  the  Society  of  which  Mr.  Jefferson  is  now 
President,  in  a  letter  from  him  to  Sir  John  Sinclair, 


dated  Philadelphia,  March  23d  1798,  and  which  i 
shall  print  at  large  for  your  edification,  and  conviction 
of  the  folly  and  impolicy  of  the  present  rear . 

Mr.  Jefferson'' s  Letter  to  Sir  John  Sinclair. 

44  I  am  fixed  in  awe  at  the  mighty  conflict  to  which 
“  two  great  nations  are  advancing,  and  recoil  with  hor* 
44  ror  at  the  ferociousness  of  man.  Will  nations  never 
44  devise  a  more  rational  umpire  of  difference  than 
“force?  Are  there  no  means  of  coercing  injustice 
44  more  gratifying  to  our  nature  than  the  waste  of  the 
44  blood  of  thousands,  and  the  labour  of  millions  of  our 
44  fellow  men  ?  We  see  numerous  societies  of  men, 
44  (the  aborigines  of  this  country)  (our  red  brethren) 
44  living  together  without  laws  or  magistracy.  Yet 
44  they  live  in  peace  among  themselves,  and  acts  of  vi¬ 
olence  and  injury  are  as  rare  as  in  nations  which 
44  keep  the  sword  of  law  in  perpetual  activity. 

44  Public  reproach  and  refusal  of  common  offices, 
44  interdiction  of  commerce  and  comforts  of  society, 
44  are  found  as  effectual  as  the  coarser  means  of  force. — - 
4 4  Nations,  like  individuals,  stand  towards  each  other 
“  only  in  the  relations  of  natural  right.  Might  they 
44  not  like  them  be  peaceably  punished  for  violence  and 
44  wrong  ?  Wonderful  has  been  the  progress  of  hu- 
•4  man  improvement  in  other  times.  Let  us  hope  then 
“  that  the  law  of  nature  which  makes  virtuous  conduct 
44  produce  benefit ;  vice,  loss  to  the  agent  in  the  long 
44  run ;  which  has  sanctioned  the  common  maxim, 
“  that  honesty  is  the  best  policy,  will  in  time  influence 
44  the  proceedings  of  nations,  as  well  as  of  individuals  ; 
44  that  wre  shall  at  length  be  sensible,  that  war  is  an  in - 
4 4  strument  entirely  inefficient  towards  redressing 
44  wrongs^  and  that  it  multiplies  instead  of  indemnifying 
44  losses .  Had  the  money  spent  in  the  present  war 
44  (between  Great  Britain  and  France)  been  employed 
44  in  making  roads  and  cutting  canals,  not  a  hovel  in 
44  the  remotest  corner  of  the  highlands  of  Scotland, 
44  or  mountains  of  Auvergne  would  have  been  with- 
44  out  a  boat  at  its  door,  or  a  rill  of  water  in  its  field, 


6 


“  and  a  road  to  the  market  town.  Had  the  money  we 
c<  (Americans)  have  lost  by  the  depredations  of  all  na- 
44  tions  been  employed  in  the  same  way,  what  commu- 
46  ideations  would  have  been  opened  to  us  of  roads  and 

44  waters. 

44  Yet,  xv ere  zve  to  go  to  war  for  redress,  instead  of 
44  redress ,  we  should  plunge  deeper  into  loss ,  anddisa- 
44  bie  ourselves  for  half  a  century  more  from  attaining 
44  the  same  e?id.  44  A  war  would  cost  ns  more  than 
44  would  cut  through  the  Isthmus  of  Darien.  These 
44  truths  are  palpable ,  and  must  in  the  progress  of  time 
44  influence  the  minds  of  men,  and  the  conduct  of  na- 
44  tions.”  Signed,  THOS.  JEFFERSON. 

End  of  Jefferson’s  letter. 

Yes !  these  truths  are  palpable,  and  they  ought  to 
influence  our  conduct  now.  This  great  man  did  not 
confine  his  ideas  to  Adams’s  war  in  1798,  but  he  look¬ 
ed  forward  and  hoped  the  day  would  arrive,  when 
they  would  have  their  operation  in  our  country.  He 
did  not  speak  for  that  case,  for  he  knew  Mr.  Adams’s 
war  spirit  could  not  be  restrained,  but  he  gave  his  ad¬ 
vice  to  republicans  whenever  they  should  come  into 
power.  We  are  nowin  power;  we  are  likely  so  to 
continue  shall  we  not  apply  Mr.  Jefferson’s  sound 
and  excellent  advice  ?  Shall  we  prefer  a  man,  who, 
like  Mr.  Madison,  chooses  war  with  its  44  half  a  centu¬ 
ry  of  evils,”  a  war  which  will  multiply,  instead  of  di¬ 
minishing  our  losses,  44  to  another  republican,  who  is 
opposed  to  war,  and  who  believes  with  Mr.  Jefferson 
that  war  is  44  an  instrument  entirely  inefficient  towards 
redressing  wrongs”? 

The  second  fundamental  doctrine  of  republicans, 
was,  that  the  militia  are  the  natural  bulwark  of  a  free 
country,  and  that  standing  armies  are  an  expensive, 
anti-republican,  dangerous  engine.  When  President 
Adams  raised  an  army  of  only  ten  thousand  men,  he  dis¬ 
gusted  and  disaffected  all  the  republican  party.  We 
then  thought  them  a  tax  upon  the  industrious  part  of 
the  community — a  refuge  and  reward  for  those  who 
were  too  idle  to  work,  and  too  proud  to  labour. 


M.  Madison,  as  if  he  despised  that  voice,  that  warn¬ 
ing'  voice,  which  made  itself  so  audibly  heard  in  the 
sudden  disgrace  and  downfall  of  Mr.  Adams,  has 
not  only  agreed  to  fill  up  the  old  standing  army 
amounting  to  ten  thousand  men,  but  has  agreed  to 
add  a  new  permanent  standing  force  of  twenty -five 
thousand  more.  Thus  this  free  repubiick,  so  remote 
from  the  collisions  and  contests  of  the  old  world,  finds 
itself  saddled  with  a  greater  military  force  than  Great 
Britain  maintained  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  only  one 
century  ago.  This  measure  is  in  direct  opposition  to 
the  principles  upon  which  Mr.  Madison  was  original¬ 
ly  supported,  and  to  the  laudable  practice  of  Mr.  Jef¬ 
ferson,  who,  during  his  eight  years  presidency,  actu¬ 
ally  reduced,  instead  of  increasing  the  standing  troops. 
I  shall  quit  this  branch  of  the  subject  by  simply  stat¬ 
ing  the  annual  expence  of  the  force  now  ordered  to 
be  raised.  If  we  could  maintain  our  troops  as  cheap 
as  they  do  in  France,  the  annual  expence  would  be- 
about  7  millions  of  dollars,  and  that  of  the  volunteers, 
whom  the  President  is  ordered  to  accept,  would  be 
10  millions  more.  But  as  the  pay,  provisions,  and 
other  munitions  of  w~ar  are  nearly  double  in  this  coun¬ 
try  what  they  are  in  France,  Mr.  Gallatin,  our  Secre¬ 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  has  very  moderately  calculated 
the  annual  expenses  of  the  war  at  thirty  millions  of  dol¬ 
lars.  The  proportion  which  will  fall  upon  the  State 
of  Massachusetts,  according  to  the  federal  constitution, 
will  be  three  millions  of  dollars.  In  order  that  my  re¬ 
publican  brethren  may  judge  of  the  enormous  weight 
of  this  debt  I  will  only  add,  that  our  annual  State  tax 
amounts  to  150,000  dollars. 

Thus  one  year’s  war  taxes  upon  this  State  must 
amount  to  just  twenty  years  taxes,  assessed  1  y  our  own 
immediate  government. 

Now  we  may  with  great  propriety  in  this  place  no¬ 
tice  the  force  and  justice  of  Mr.  Jefferson’s  remark, 
that  “  if  we  go  to  war  to  redress  our  wrongs  by  the 
depredations  of  belligerents  we  shall  plunge  deeper  in 
to  loss.”  « 


8 


Apply  his  prudent  and  excellent  principle  to  the  pres¬ 
ent  case.  The  avowed  cause  of  war  for  the  redress  of 
which  we  were  plunged  into  our  present  calamities,  was 
the  interdiction  of  our  trade  to  France,  by  Great  Brit¬ 
ain  ;  we  shall  pass  over  to  another  place  the  considera¬ 
tion  that  Great  Britain  has  since  removed  this  restric¬ 
tion,  and  that  our  trade  to  France  would  be  now  free  ; 
we  shall  simply  compare  in  this  place,  the  amount  of 
the  evils  we  sustained  by  the  British  orders,  with  the 
expence  and  injury  of  the  mode  of  redress. 

The  whole  exports  of  Massachusetts  to  all  the  coun¬ 
tries  from  which  the  British  orders  excluded  us,  never 
amounted  to  three  millions  of  dollars,  and  the  greater 
part  of  what  we  did  export  thither  were  of  articles 
which  were  the  growth  of  the  West  Indies.  France 
never  took  any  of  the  productions  of  Massachusetts 
except  a  small  portion  of  our  fish. 

By  the  war,  we  lose  not  only  all  our  lumber,  beef  and 
pork  trade,  and  all  our  commerce  in  potashes,  but  also 
the  employment  of  more  than  one  thousand  ships  which 
were  engaged  in  the  trade  with  Great  Britain  and  her 
colonies. 

So  that  the  annual  expence  of  the  war  to  this  State 
alone,  not  only  exceeds  all  its  exports  to  France,  for  the 
benefit  of  which  the  war  is  undertaken,  but  we  lose  all 
the  trade  to  Great  Britain,  all  the  freights  made  by  our 
ships  in  that  trade,  and  all  the  profit  earned  by  the  thou¬ 
sands  of  men  who  were  before  employed  in  fitting  out 
those  ships,  in  navigating  them,  and  in  raising  and  fur¬ 
nishing  their  cargoes. 

It  would  not  be  too  much  to  say,  that  our  losses 
every  year  are  more  than  four  times  the  value  of  the 
object  for  which  the  contest  was  undertaken. 

But  this  is  not  all — nay,  it  is  not  one  hundredth  part 
of  our  losses.  What  does  Mr.  Jefferson  mean,  in  his 
letter  to  Sir  John  Sinclair,  when  he  says,  that  “  by  a 
war  we  should  disable  ourselves  half  a  century  from 
attaining  the  same  end’’  ?  I  will  tell  you  what  he 
means. 

The  direct  loss  in  exports,  freights,  labour  and  prof¬ 
its,  is  but  a  trifle  compared  to  the  other  losses  occa* 


9 


sioned  by  war.  The  very  intelligent  and  comprehen¬ 
sive  mind  of  Mr.  Jefferson  took  in  distant  consequences, 
as  well  as  immediate  effects. 

He  included  in  this  half  a  century  of  injuries ,  the  ac¬ 
tual  and  dreadful  loss  of  capital  by  captures — the  diver¬ 
sion  of  the  accustomed  trade  of  other  countries,  which 
we  had  been  habituated  to  supply,  into  other  channels, 
and  which  we  may  never  again  regain— the  loss  in  that 
part  of  our  capital  invested  in  stores  and  wharves,  and 
in  dwelling-houses  for  our  merchants,  who  will  be 
obliged  to  quit  our  towns — the  change  of  the  habits  of 
our  young  men,  who  will  be  forced  from  employments 
profitable  to  the  state,  to  the  useless,  expensive,  danger¬ 
ous  and  unprofitable  occupation  of  arms — the  suspen¬ 
sion  of  the  labour  and  accustomed  occupations  of  one 
half  million  of  men,  employed  in  collecting  lumber,  tak¬ 
ing  and  curing  fish,  making  potashes,  raising,  killing 
and  preparing  beef  and  pork,  and  the  thousand  arts 
connected  with  ship  building  and  navigation.  Hence 
it  was,  that  our  republican  father,  Washington,  and  our 
republican  friend,  Jefferson,  thought  that  wars  in  our 
infant  and  feeble  state  would  be  so  permanently  inj  urious  \ 
■  to  this  young,  but  enterprising  and  growing  country. 

The  third  maxim  of  republicans,  which  induced  us  to 
change  Mr.  Adams’s  administration  for  Mr.  Jefferson’s, 
was,  that  in  a  young  and  free  country,  the  taxes  should 
be  as  light  as  possible,  and  all  those  expensive  and  odi¬ 
ous  modes  of  taxation  should  be  avoided,  which  have  a 
tendency  to  multiply  the  number  of  officers,  and  to  har- 
rass  and  vex  the  people  in  their  ordinary  concerns. 

The  stamp  act  laid  by  Great-Britain  convulsed  our 
country  to  its  centre.  The  excises  raised  a  rebellion 
among  the  republicans  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  land 
tax  was  deservedly  odious  throughout  the  United 
States. 

Accordingly  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  compliance  with  the 
wishes  of  the  republicans,  recommended  the  repeal  of 
all  these  odious  taxes,  and  they  were  repealed. 

But  'this  dreadful  and  unnecessary  war  has  driven 
Mr.  Madison  to  such  straits,  that  he  has  been  compel- 


10 


led  to  resort  to  every  one  of  the  offensive  taxes  of 
the  Federalists.  Congress  have  adopted  the  plan,  and 
the  execution  of  it  is  suspended  only  to  the  next  ses¬ 
sion*  The  next  Spring  will  bring  us  an  army  of  land 
tax  assessors  and  collectors,  of  excise  officers,  of  stamp 
duty  agents.  Not  a  cottage  will  be  free  from  visitation  ! 
not  a  comfort  or  necessary  of  life  from  imposition  !-— 
While  foreign  goods  are  immensely  enhanced  in  price 
by  the  war  and  double  duties, even  some  of  the  few 
domestic  manufactures,  which  contribute  to  our  com¬ 
fort,  are  to  be  saddled  with  heavy  burdens. 

If  a  man  had  risen  from  the  dead  in  the  beginning  of 
Mr.  Jefferson’s  administration,  and  had  assured  us, 
while  that  patriot  was  providing  the  means  of  protecting 
us  from  those  exactions  which  “took  from  the  mouth 
of  labour  its  reward,”  that  in  twelve  short  years  that 
pittance  would  be  wrested  from  the  poor  by  a  repub¬ 
lican  successor,  we  should  have  called  the  prophet  a 
madman.  Yet  such  things  have  Mr.  Madison’s  friends 
in  Congress  actually  proposed  and  passed  by  resolu¬ 
tions. 

The  fourth  maxim  of  republicans,  and  one  to  which 
they  were  exceedingly  attached,  was,  the  necessity  of 
rotation,  frequent  rotation  in  office.  This  excellent 
principle  was  founded  upon  these  considerations  :  that 
men  long  continued  in  power  are  apt  to  forget  the  feel¬ 
ings  and  interests  of  their  constituents — that  the  re¬ 
ceipt  of  large  salaries  and  the  permanent  exercise  of 
vast  powers  have  a  tendency  to  harden  the  mind  of  the 
ruler,  and  to  make  him  forget  the  sufferings,  and  real 
condition  of  the  people.  How  indeed  cgn  a  President, 
surrounded  with  luxuries,  enjoying  a  salary  of  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars  a  year,  realize  the  sufferings  of 
the  poor  sailor,  deprived  of  his  bread  ;  of  the  laborious 
lumber  cutter  or  lumber  merchant,  thrown  out  of  em¬ 
ploy  ;  of  the  industrious  manufacturers  of  salt,  reduc¬ 
ed  to  beggary,  by  the  refusal  of  government  to  protect 
them  ;  of  the  enterprizing  whaleman  and  fisherman, 
starving  for  want  of  employment?  To  a  President  like 
Mr.  Madison,  who  never  makes  the  circuit  amidst  the 
scenes  of  distress  which  the  war  occasions  ;  who  knows 


11 


no  other  effects  of  it  but  his  increased  patronage  from 
the  number  of  officers  created  by  the  vast  standing 
army,  and  by  the  losses  occasioned  in  that  army  by 
death  and  capture  ;  to  such  a  President,  who  is  sure 
to  receive  his  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  if  there  is 
as  much  left  in  the  treasury,  or  if  so  much  can  be  bor- 
rowed  or  forced  from  the  poor  citizen  by  taxes,  a  war 
is  a  mighty  pretty  sort  of  thing.  It  increases  his  pow¬ 
er.  It  is  a  sort  of  game,  at  which  he  can  play  with  as 
much  coolness  as  he  would  at  a  game  cffchecquers  or 
chess.  But  he  knows  nothing  of  the  sufferings  of  the 
citizens.  Their  complaints  hardly  ever  reach  his  palace, 
and  if  they  are  wafted  thither  from  a  distance,  they  are ' 
overpowered  by  the  adulations  and  clamours  of  those 
who  surround  him,  seeking  for  offices  and  salaries  and 
epaulets,  for  all  which  the  suffering  people  are  to  pay. 

It  was  on  this  account  that  the  republicans  always 
thought,  that  it  was  important,  that  the  President  should, 
at  stated  times,  return  to  private  life,  and  be  succeed¬ 
ed  by  a  new  man,  who,  going  from  the  midst  of  the 
people ,  should  carry  with  him  a  knowledge  of  and  a 
feeling  for  their  sufferings.  The  provision  of  the  con¬ 
stitution  is  a  dead-letter,  if  a  man  can  be  continued 
for  life. 

But  there  is  another  species  of  rotation  not  provid¬ 
ed  for  by  the  constitution,  but  which  is  of  infinite  im¬ 
portance. 

I  mean  a  rotation  of  political  power  between  the 
several  States.  The  United  States  are  composed  of 
many  distinct  sovereignties,  which  although  in  some 
points  they  have  a  common  interest,  yet  a  man  must 
be  blind  who  does  not  perceive,  that  they  have  also  dis¬ 
tinct  and  separate  interests.  Virginia  raises  tobacco 
and  flour  ;  she  owns  but  little  shipping  comparatively. 
A  state  of  things  may  exist  which  may  be  ruinous  to 
New- York  and  Massachusetts,  and  yet  highly  benefi¬ 
cial  to  Virginia.  Such  a  state  of  things  now  exists. 
Virginia  is  growing  rich  by  the  war.  Her  flour  is  all 
exported  at  immense  and  unheard  of  prices.  But  the 
Northern  States  can  export  little  or  nothing  ;  and  what 
with  the  failure  of  their  crops,  and  the  enhanced  price 


12 


of  Virginia  flour,  and  foreign  produce,  they  are  crush¬ 
ed  under  the  effects  of  the  war. 

Far  be  it  from  me  ;  far  be  it  from  any  honest  re¬ 
publican  to  cultivate  a  jealousy  between  the  several 
states.  Our  political  opponents  have  carried  this  point 
to  improper  lengths,  and  I  fear  that  some  of  them  have 
even  gone  so  far  as  almost  to  wish  a  separation.  I  ab¬ 
hor  this  idea.  But  while  we  would  discountenance 
undue  jealousies  between  the  several  States,  we  ought 
not  to  be  so  mean,  so  abject,  so  lost  to  our  own  inter¬ 
ests,  as  not  to  wish  to  have  the  voice  of  the  Northern 
States  heard  once  in  a  century .  I  say  once  in  a  cen¬ 
tury,  at  Washington.  This  is  but  a  moderate  wish. 

Now  let  us  see  how  stands  the  fact  ?  Out  of  the 
twenty-four  years  that  the  federal  constitution  has  ex¬ 
isted,  Virginia  has  had  a  President  twenty  years !  ! 

It  is  impossible  for  the  best  man  not  to  have  some 
prejudice  in  favour  of  his  own  State  ;  even  if  he  had 
no  prejudices,  he  knows  the  interest  of  his  own  State 
best,  and  he  must  be  comparatively  ignorant  of  the 
state  of  other  parts  of  the  country.  For  example, 
Madison  knew  the  war  would  not  injure  Virginia,  be¬ 
cause  Britain  wanted  her  flour,  and  she  would  easily 
get  it,  because  the  Virginians,  with  all  their  pretended 
patriotism,  would  sell  it  to  her. 

But  Mr.  Madison  did  not  know  the  number  of  the 
persons  dependent  on  the  whale-fishery;  he  did  not 
know  the  extent  of  the  salt-works  at  Cape- Cod ;  he 
did  not  know  how  many  men  would  starve  if  the  lum¬ 
ber  trade  and  ship-building  of  Maine  should  be  annihi¬ 
lated  ;  or  if  he  did  know  these  facts  he  went  rashlv  in- 
to  the  war. 

Hence  the  war  appeared  to  him  a  light  matter,  while 
it  was  death  to  us. 

It  is  then  proper  and  expedient  that  once  in  twenty 
or  thirty  years  we  should  have  a  President  who  has  a 
fellow  feeling  for  us.  Such  a  man  is  Mr.  Clinton  ;  a 
firm  republican,  but  who  being  a  citizen  of  a  northern 
and  commercial  state,  and  a  Mayor  of  a  great  trading 
city,  knows  well  the  interests,  must  carry  into  office 


13 


with  him  a  sympathy,  and  must  feel  a  disposition  to 
relieve  the  distresses  of  the  Commercial  States. 

Is  this  doctrine  unfair  ?  Does  this  look  like  jealousy  ? 
Does  this  tend  to  disunion  ?  What  do  we  humbly  ask 
for  ?  Why,  that  once  in  twenty  years,  the  great  State 
of  New- York,  whose  interests  are  the  same  with  New- 
Engiand,  a  state  possessing  one  million  of  souls  (and 
together  with  New-England,  holding  more  than  two 
millions)  should  have  the  privilege  of  a  ruler  who 
knows  and  feels  for  its  interest. 
i  These  are  true  republican  doctrines.  They  are  the 

means  of  preserving,  not  of  destroying  the  union ; 
the  way  to  destroy  the  union  is  to  suffer  these  jealous¬ 
ies  to  grow  until  they  become  too  formidable  for  re¬ 
sistance,  which  may  be  the  case  if  Virginian  interests 
7  and  politicks  are  suffered  forever  to  prevail. 

Having  stated  the  several  republican  principles  which 
?  have  been  of  late  strangely  perverted  or  overlooked,  I 

shall  now  proceed  to  make  some  remarks  on  the  pre- 
_  sent  war,  for  which,  having  been  suddenly  and  unex¬ 
pectedly  recommended  by  Mr.  Madison,  he  must  be 
considered  as  responsible  ;  and  if,  from  a  view  of  the 
whole  matter,  my  republican  friends  shall  agree  with 
me,  that  it  was  prematurely  commenced,  and  is  un¬ 
skilfully  and  improperly  prosecuted,  they  will  have  no 
hesitation  in  preferring  another  republican ,  who  will 
either  put  an  end  to  it,  or  who  will  prosecute  it  with 
more  ability  and  honour. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  we  had  not  ample  cause 
of  war  against  Great  Britain.  God  forbid,  that  I  should 
extenuate  my  country’s  wrongs. 

But  I  do  say, 

First,  that  I  agree  with  Mr.  Jefferson,  that  war  is  a 
very  inefficient  mode  of  redressing  our  wrongs. 

2ndly,  That  these  wrongs  could  have  been  much 
better  redressed  by  negotiation. 

3dly,  That  the  war  was  commenced  without  due 
preparation. 


14 


4thly,  That  it  has  been  unsuccessfully,  and  I  think 
very  unskilfully  managed. 

Lastly,  That  the  great  and  principal  cause  of  it  has  • 
been  since  removed,  and  yet  Mr.  Madison  does  not 
make  peace. 

I  shall  say  but  a  few  words  on  each,  because  a  few 
words  are  sufficient  on  points  so  clear.  I  have  stated 
no  points  which  I  cannot  prove. 

1st,  Then  I  say  war  is  an  4 4  inefficient  mode  of  re¬ 
dressing  our  wrongs.”  This  I  borrow  from  Mr.  Jef¬ 
ferson.  I  support  it  thus :  The  honour  of  nations  is 
not  exactly  like  that  of  individuals ;  an  individual,  may, 
though  not  always  with  prudence,  attempt  to  revenge 
his  wrongs  when  success  is  very  uncertain.  It  would, 
however,  in  anjindividual  be  esteemed  ridiculous,  if  he 
should  go  to  China  to  chastise  a  Mandarin  who  had 
insulted  his  son,  or  in  fact  attempt  any  other  impracti¬ 
cable  thing.  But  the  wisest  and  the  proudest  nations 
often  overlook,  or  forego,  or  suspend  their  revenge,  un¬ 
til  they  can  see  a  reasonable  prospect  of  success. 

Especially  in  case  of  mere  pecuniary  injuries,  such 
as  were  inflicted  by  the  British  orders  in  council, 
which  were  not  designed,  nor  were  they  in  effect,  any 
stain  upon  our  honour ,  but  a  mere  pecuniary  loss . 
Nations  ought,  and  the  greatest  and  most  powerful  na¬ 
tions  do,  frequently  count  the  cost  before  they  go  to 
war.  Now  I  have  already  shewn,  that  the  cost  of  this 
war  for  one  year  only  will  exceed  all  the  injury  we 
ever  sustained  by  the  orders  in  council. 

Again,  war  is  an  44  inefficient  mode  of  obtaining 
redress,”  because  we  have  no  navy  which  can  cope 
with  Great  Britain.  She  is  only  assailable  by  us  in 
Canada,  and  through  her  trade.  As  to  the  latter  she 
can  destroy  ours  completely  ;  we  can  only  injure  and 
impair  hers  ;  we  cannot  destroy  it.  Now  in  all  com¬ 
bats,  the  question  is  not  whether  both  can  do  each  oth¬ 
er  some  injury,  but  it  is,  as  Mr.  Jefferson  said,  which 
can  44  do  the  other  the  most  harm 

If  a  weak  man  is  contending  with  a  strong  one,  it  is 
very  little  satisfaction  to  him  that  he  can  give  his  ad- 


15 


versary  a  blow  on  the  eye,  if,  at  the  return  blow,  his 
adversary  can  knock  his  brains  out. 

So  as  to  Canada,  suppose  we  get  it  at  the  expence 
of  ten  thousand  men  ;  and  we  have  already  lost  three 
thousand  five  hundred  without  gaining  an  inch  of 
ground,  and  with  the  further  loss  of  twenty  millions  of 
dollars ;  how  stands  the  account  ?  Why  Britain  has 
lost  what  she  did  not  want,  we  shall  have  gained  what 
we  cannot  keep ,  and  what  we  do  not  desire,  and  what 
Britain  would  have  sold  us  for  half  the  money. 

Now  at  the  end  of  the  campaign,  or  of  the  several 
campaigns,  when  we  shall  have  waded  through  our  own 
blood,  and  over  our  own  bags  of  gold  to  Canada,  which 
will  be  most  weakened,  we  or  Great  Britain  ? 

Will  this  conquer  the  freedom  of  the  seas  ?  Will 
>  this  compel  her  to  yield  her  maritime  superiority  ?  As 

»  well  might  you  expect  a  brave  man  to  yield  to  his  ad¬ 

versary,  because  he  had  knocked  off  his  hat. 

But  secondly,  Our  wrongs  could  have  been  better 
v  adjusted  by  negotiation.  I  have  but  two  words  to  say 

on  this  point.  I  have  shown  under  the  last  head,  that 
they  could  not  have  been  zvorse  adjusted  than  by  war . 

I  have^  only  to  add  two  things.  First,  that  they 
must  finally  be  settled  by  negotiation.  All  wars,  how¬ 
ever  violent,  end  in  that ;  of  course  negotiation  without 
suffering  would  have  been  better  than  negotiation  after 
such  immense  losses,  unless  we  expect  to  be  success¬ 
ful  in  humbling  Great  Britain,  which  I  have  shown  we 
shall  probably  not  be. 

2ndly,  That  even  without  negotiation  Great  Britain 
has  yielded  the  great  point,  and  no  doubt  negotiation 
would  soon  have  settled  the  rest. 

3diy,  We  say  that  the  war  was  commenced  with¬ 
out  due  preparation.  This  is  chargeable  to  Mr. 
Madison,  and  to  him  only  ;  Congress  are  not  respon¬ 
sible  for  that  ;  it  was  a  pure  executive  duty.  Need  1 
prove  this  assertion,  that  we  were  unprepared  ?  Where* 
were  the  35000  men  who  were  to  carry  Canada  at  a 
stroke  ?  Not  5000  of  them  yet  raised.  Where  were 

the  50,000  volunteers  ?  Not  7000  vet  in  service. 

'  * 


16 


Why  was  Governor  Strong  ordered  to  turn  out  the 
militia  ?  Because,  said  Mr.  Madison,  we  have  no  men 
for  the  forts. 

Why  was  Hull  sent  in  with  an  army  which  in 
thirty  days  after  the  war,  the  British  commander  was 
able  to  take  ? 

WThy  has  General  Dearborn  suffered  the  whole  cam¬ 
paign  to  pass  inactive,  and  to  permit  Great  Britain  to 
send  troops  from  England,  the  West  Indies,  and  Hali¬ 
fax,  so  that  four  times  the  force  is  now  necessary  to 
take  Canada,  as  at  the  declaration  of  war  ? 

Why  were  3  of  our  frigates  totally  unfit  for  service  ? 

These  and  a  thousand,  nay  ten  thousand  other  proofs 
may  be  adduced  of  the  total  want  of  preparation. 

If  suspicion  could  be  harboured  in  the  generous 
hearts  of  republicans,  we  should  almost  be  disposed 
to  say,  that  all  this  looks  like  connivance  with  the  ene¬ 
my,  and  that  every  other  thing  was  intended,  rather  than 
a  serious  attack  upon  her.  Certainly  if  she  had  direct¬ 
ed,  or  influenced  our  councils,  she  could  not  have 
made  them  more  favourable  to  herself. 

4thly,  The  war  has  been  unsuccessfully,  and  un¬ 
skilfully  managed. 

The  publick  shame  and  disgrace  of  our  arms  I  will 
not,  I  should  blush  to  repeat.  The  whole  revolution¬ 
ary  war  of  eight  years  cannot  shew  such  a  succession 
of  disasters. 

The  loss  of  one  army  of  2500  men,  and  the  sacrifice 
of  1600  more  under  Col.  Rensalear,  speak  a  language 
too  distressing,  too  humiliating  not  to  be  heard  and  la¬ 
mented. 

But  is  Mr.  Madison  accountable  for  these  disasters  ? 
Surely  he  is.  W as  Hull  incapable  ?  Was  he  cowardly  ? 
Was  he  treacherous  ?  Why  Madison  was  responsible 
for  appointing  him.  But  if,  as  is  most  probable,  the 
force  under  Hull  was  incompetent,  and  was  ill  suppli¬ 
ed,  Madison,  and  he  alone,  is  answerable.  I  was  struck 
with  the  remark  of  an  old  revolutionary  general,  the 
highest  in  rank  now  alive  of  the  officers  of  the  last 
war— upon  being  asked  whether  he  thought  Mr. 
Madison  the  proper  man  to  be  supported  at  this  criti¬ 
cal  time,  he  replied— 


17 


“  If  your  wife  and  your  child  were  dangerously  sick, 
and  your  family  physician  appeared  to  be  unable  or  in¬ 
competent  to  cure  them,  would  you  call  in  another 
physician,  or  would  you  let  them  die  ?” 

This  gentleman  is  a  staunch  republican,  and  at  the 
head  of  one  of  the  electoral  tickets.  Every  man  can  see 
the  application,  and  every  prudent  man  will  apply  the 
remedy. 

Lastly,  the  great  and  principal  cause  of  the  war  has 
been  removed. 

Since  the  war  was  declared,  the  orders  in  Council 
have  been  rescinded,  so  that  our  trade,  if  peace  was 
made,  would  now  be  free  to  every  part  of  the  globe. 

We  shopld  again  have  the  profits  of  an  unrivalled 
neutrality  J — our  wilderness  would  blossom  as  the 
rose  ; — the  hum  of  industry  would  be  heard  in  our 
streets,  and  the  din  of  arms,  the  horrors  of  carnage, 
and  the  distress  of  war  would  cease. 

But  Mr*  Madison  has  refused  even  an  armistice — - 
Unprepared  as  we  are  for  hostile  attack,  he  is  unwilling 
even  to  suspend  the  horrors  of  a  disgraceful  war. 

How  we  are  to  interpret  this  conduct,  so  nconsistent 
with  our  best  interests,  so  much  at  variance  with  the 
excellent  and  humane  principles  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  I 
am  unable  to  determine. 

Having  shewn  the  evils  of  war  generally,  its  total  in¬ 
efficiency  to  attain  its  objects  (which  are  a  redress  of 
our  wrongs)  I  shall  conclude  by  stating  its  peculiar  ef¬ 
fects  on  Massachusetts ;  on  the  District  of  Maine  ; 
and  on  the  old  colony. 

In  a  great  and  extended  country,  it  is  impossible 
that  the  interests  should  be  the  same  throughout  the 
whole.  <While  Virginia  and  the  Southern  States  are 
rioting  in  luxury  by  the  unexampled  high  price  of 
flour  which  Great  Britain  purchases  by  means  of  licen¬ 
ses,  and  particularly  by  neutral  flags,  the  unfortunate 
State  of  Massachusetts  is  bleeding  at  every  pore.  The 
whole  of  this  disastrous  war  falls  upon  us.  We  have 
no  staple  produce  which  our  enemy  wants ;  our  ships 
are  laid  up  to  rot  at  our  wharves ;  our  stores  will  soon 


/ 


18 


lie  vacant  and  unocupied ;  our  seamen  are  deprived  of 
employment ;  our  merchants  are  forced  to  suspend 
their  enterprises  ;  our  fishermen  are  constrained  to  quit 
their  occupations,  and  our  farmers,  though  they  have 
not  yet  perceived,  will  soon  feel  the  dreadful  effects  of 
a  stagnated  or  rather  annihilated  commerce. 

The  District  of  Maine,  a  new  and  infant  state,  with 
a  bold,  enterprising,  industrious  population,  depends 
exclusively  on  foreign  trade  for  its  support.  Its  nat¬ 
ural  commerce  is  with  Great  Britain,  and  her  West 
India  possessions.  She  has  no  profitable  staple  like 
that  of  Virginia  which  our  enemy  must  consume. 

Her  principal  sources  of  wealth  (the  export  of  lum¬ 
ber,  shipbuilding  and  navigation)  are  dried  up.  While 
she  will  be  compelled  to  pay  her  full  quota  of  the  taxes 
occasioned  by  the  war,  she  will  be  left  without  the  means 
of  furnishing  them.  An  end  will  be  put  to  her  growth. 
Her  new  settlements  must  either  stand  still  or  be  aban¬ 
doned.  Without  that  accumulated  capital  which  older 
states  enjoy,  she  will  be  reduced  to  poverty,  and  the 
burdens  of  the  war  will  be  felt  by  her  in  a  proportion, 
far  beyond  her  strength  or  her  ability  to  sustain.  Even 
the  pittance  which  she  derives  from  the  coasting  trade, 
will  probably  be  cut  off  as  soon  as  the  enemy  shall  ar¬ 
rive  in  force  upon  our  coasts,  and  shall  find  Mr.  Madi¬ 
son  deaf  to  all  proposals  for  accommodation. 

Can  it  be  possible  under  such  circumstances,  that  our 
republican  brethren  in  Maine  will  hesitate,  whether 
they  will  prefer  Mr.  Clinton,  a  northern  man,  who  will 
feel  for  the  distresses  of  commerce,  to  Mr.  Madison, 
the  author  of  all  their  misfortunes  ?  I  trust  not. 

The  old  Colony  too  will  feel  the  vengeance  of  this 
war,  in  a  manner  which  ought  to  excite  the  most  feel¬ 
ing  emotions.  With  a  soil  not  the  most  propitious  for 
agriculture,  their  “farms  are  upon  the  ocean,”  and 
their  “home  upon  the  mountain  wave.” 

Nantucket,  exposed  to  the  incursions  of  the  enemy, 
without  the  means  of  defence  or  resistance  ;  and  con¬ 
sidering  also  the  religious  principles  of  the  frietids, 
surely  cannot  hesitate  between  two  republicans,  wheth¬ 
er  they  will  prefer  the  friend  of  peace  and  commerce 
to  the  enemy  of  both* 


19 


As  to  the  inhabitants  of  Barnstable  county,  that  hardy, 
industrious,  and  virtuous  race  of  men  ;  they  appear  to 
be  devoted  to  ruin.  It  seems  as  if  the  war,  and  its  natur¬ 
al  consequences,  were  intended  for  their  special  de¬ 
struction. 

To  what  resource  can  these  honest  republicans  look 
up  in  this  tremendous  conflict  ?  What  are  the  means  of 
support  left  to  them  ? 

The  protecting  hand  of  government  withdrawn  from 
their  manufactories  of  salt !  Even  the  ocean  from 
which  they  are  now  interdicted,  might  have  afforded 
them  some  sustenance  by  their  industry,  applied  to  a 
manufacture,  which  all  the  nation  wants.  But  even  this 
resource  is  weakened  !  They  will,  after  a  few  years  war, 
have  nothing  left  to  subsist  on  but  their  tears  ! 

After  having  expended  vast  sums  in  edifices  to  sup¬ 
ply  the  country  with  a  necessary  of  life,  even  during  a 
war  which  will  render  the  encouragement  of  such  man¬ 
ufactures  so  important,  the  aid  of  government  is  with¬ 
drawn,  because  a  Virginia  planter  who  makes  them  pay 
eleven  dollars  a  barrel  for  flour,  will  not  consent  to  pay 
ten  cents  a  year  for  seasoning  the  luxuries  on  his  table. 

While  too  the  protecting  duty,  which  first  gave  ex¬ 
istence  and  vigour  to  this  useful  manufacture,  is  with¬ 
drawn,  the  double  duties  on  tea,  and  other  foreign  arti¬ 
cles,  which  must  be  paid  by  the  consumer,  operate 
most  cruelly  upon  these  unfortunate  people,  who  ap¬ 
pear  to  be  thrown  out  of  the  protection  of  the  gov¬ 
ernment.  Even  their  complaints  and  remonstrances 
are  treated  with  contempt,  and  the  most  unpopular  and 
odious  officers  are  continued,  as  it  were,  for  the  purpose 
of  offending  and  outraging  the  feelings  of  a  wholelpeople. 

Upon  the  whole  may  we  not  say  that  the  interest  of 
all  the  republicans  of  Massachusetts  calls  upon  them 
strenuously  to  exert  themselves  to  effect  a  change  of 
rulers  ;  not  a  change  of  pi  inciples ,  but  a  change  of  men , 

Ought  we  not  to  prefer  a  northern  President  in  this 
eventful  period  ?  a  man  friendly  to  commerce,  because 
he  is  acquainted  with  its  interests ;  a  man  firmly  at¬ 
tached  to  republican  principles,  uniformly  supported 
by  the  republicans  of  his  own  state  ;  a  man  of  vigorous 


20 


undaunted  mind,  equally  calculated  to  prosecute  the 
war  with  honour,  if  that  dreadful  alternative  be  neces¬ 
sary,  or  to  conclude  an  honourable  and  advantageous 
peace,  to  which  he  is  sincerely  disposed. 

Such  a  man  is 

DE  WIT  CLINTON. 

As  to  his  rival,  Mr.  Madison,  we  know  one  thing 
of  him  ;  he  found  the  country  at  peace  ;  he  leaves  it  at 
war ;  he  found  it  prosperous  and  happy  ;  he  leaves  it 
embarrassed  and  wretched.  He  made  war  without 
preparation  ;  he  carries  it  on  without  skill  or  ability  ; 
he  will  leave  us  degraded  and  disgraced. 

As  a  republican,  I  havve  no  hesitation  to  prefer  Mr. 
Clinton,  and  I  am  too  independent  to  relinquish  my 
opinions,  because  the  federalists  happen  to  agree  with 
me  in  them. — These  are  no  ordinary  times  ;  we  are  on 
trial  for  our  lives  ;  we  are  all  embarked  in  the  same 
bottom,  and  I  am  glad  that  the  spirit  of  party  has  yielded 
to  a  sense  of  common  danger,  and  a  wish  for  common 
safety. 

A  TRUE  REPUBLICAN. 


N.  B.  I  was  pleased  to  see  that  staunch  and  venerable 
republican  soidier,  Gen.  Heath,  at  the  head  of  the  Clinton 
Ticket.  Such  an  office,  is  worthy  of  the  friend  and  surviving: 
companion  of  Washington. 


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